My Never Ending List

4.5 stars
Victoria has a knack for finding lost things ever since she was young.  She would pop on her Raleigh bicycle and immediately she could find the missing item.  Sounds amazing, right? The amazing part is how she got there.  All Vic had to do was pedal her Raleigh bicycle, turning the pedals faster and faster towards the old rickety, bat-infested covered bridge which took her to the exact location of the misplaced item whether that was in another town or another state.  Things change as this query takes its toll on Vic and as the bridge ages and deteriorates, it must be demolished.  The book was just getting interesting and as this all came to a close, I got to thinking what Vic was going to do in the rest of the 600 pages of this book.  Vic’s means of transportation changes as she gets older and the bridge, that bat-infested bridge somehow makes it back to help Vic out when she needs it.  Vic has this amazing knack and I am not going to spoil it for you by telling you how.  Charles Manx has a talent too but he loves Christmas and children.  His sidekick Bing a.k.a. the Gasmask Man, talks in rhymes and he tries to please Manx any way he can.  Manx lures children w/ or without their parents to go with him to Christmasland which he presents to the children by painting a picture of fun, presents, bliss, and a wonderland. Transporting the children in his vintage Rolls-Royce with NOS4A2 license plates (yes, it does mean something) this vehicle is a part of Manx's talent and he is some twisted being (Don’t get into the car!!)  Bing wants to go to Christmasland so bad he is like a whipped dog doing whatever Manx needs him to do.  What a messed up team!! I have to mention Maggie.  Maggie has a talent also. Oh I loved Maggie, not just because she is from my hometown but because she cared so much about her library and she was such a caring and loving person. Her heart was so big and she tried, I thought she tried the best that she could. As Maggie tries to discuss with Vic the issues they are facing, they both need to try to understand the bigger picture before it’s too late. 

It was a long book, really long but I really enjoyed it.  I loved how the last sentence of the chapter flowed into the title of the next chapter- little things like that make me smile (“Vic squirmed her upper body through  the opening, pulling her legs after her, and slid into  The Laundry Chute”  - The Laundry Chute is the title of the chapter).  Vic acted like a strong character but she had her tender moments and her love/admiration for her child made her a likeable character and one you could relate to.  I enjoyed the part when Vic’s son was in the Rolls-Royce and his experience in there; the author did an impressive job with details and imagination.  The layers were added as you read this book and the determination and frustration as the characters unraveled made this book so enjoyable.   A fun book, a creepy book, a book that makes me think of Gingersnap Spice differently.

“Manx bent over with that enormous silver hammer of his, lifted it, and brought it down.  Wayne had never heard bones break before.  Manx struck her in the left shoulder, and Wayne heard it pop, like a knothole exploding in a campfire. “